About Macaulay Luxury Travel

Private Luxury Tours of the Scottish Highlands,
Designed Around You

Macaulay Luxury Travel creates private, bespoke tours of the Scottish Highlands, designed for guests who want comfort, care and a deeper connection to Scotland. From luxury Highland day tours and cruise shore excursions to multi-day Scottish journeys, every experience is carefully planned around you.

Our motto is simple: nothing is too much trouble. We take care of the timings, route planning, local recommendations and little details, so you can relax, explore and enjoy the Highlands at your own pace.

Female-led Highland tours, with the guide style that suits you

Macaulay Luxury Travel is proudly founded and led by Emma Macaulay, who built the company around warm Highland hospitality, thoughtful planning and a genuine love of sharing Scotland’s stories. We are especially known for our female-led tours of the Scottish Highlands, ideal for women travellers, ladies’ days out, mother-and-daughter trips, groups of friends, and guests who simply feel more comfortable with a female guide.

If you would prefer a female guide for your private tour, we are very happy to arrange this where available. And if your idea of a perfect Highland welcome is a man in a kilt, we can certainly do that too.

Only the best local guides

We work with guides who bring warmth, professionalism, local knowledge and personality to every journey. This year, we are delighted to have Fiona Murray and Paul Eddington joining us.

Fiona brings a wonderfully relaxed, personal and engaging guiding style, ideal for guests who want a warm and thoughtful Highland experience. She lives in Evanton, here in the Highlands, but is originally from Edinburgh, and as a retired teacher she brings a wealth of knowledge, care and storytelling to every tour.

Paul is polished, knowledgeable and highly experienced. He can offer private tours in his BMW X5 for up to three guests, or guide larger groups in one of our luxury Mercedes minivans. This gives couples and small groups another comfortable, premium vehicle option.

Based near Ullapool, Paul is also our most experienced guide for guests exploring the west coast and north-west Highlands. And if you find yourself in Ullapool, his wife owns a fantastic bakery in the town centre, which is always worth a visit.

Emma continues to guide many of our tours herself, and her husband Cash Macaulay also joins for the occasional tour, bringing his own friendly Highland welcome to the experience. Cash has a real passion for tractors and Highland farming life, so guests with an interest in rural Scotland, machinery or local working life will always find plenty to chat about with him.

Private luxury tours of the Scottish Highlands

The Highlands are world-famous for breathtaking landscapes, ancient castles, dramatic lochs, winding glens, rich history and warm hospitality. We are passionate about sharing this extraordinary region with travellers from across the world, combining immersive storytelling, local insight and personalised guidance to create experiences you will not find on a standard group tour.

Whether you are planning a full-day Highland adventure, a private shore excursion from Invergordon, a luxury Isle of Skye tour, an Outlander-inspired journey, an ancestral visit or a multi-day exploration of Scotland, your itinerary can be as structured or as flexible as you wish.

Some guests arrive with a clear list of castles, lochs, film locations, whisky distilleries or family heritage sites they want to visit. Others simply ask us to design a beautiful Highland day based on their interests. Either way, we shape the experience around your pace, your comfort and the moments that matter most to you.

Thoughtful, effortless and unforgettable

With our knowledge of Scotland, we can offer trusted recommendations for accommodation, dining, hidden gems, scenic stops and special experiences along the way. Every tour is designed to feel personal, relaxed and beautifully looked after from beginning to end.

Join us for a private journey through Scotland’s stunning scenery, iconic castles, lochs, villages and secret corners, and experience the Highlands in a way that feels effortless, memorable and truly your own.

Meet the team

Emma Macaulay

Emma Macaulay is the founder of Macaulay Luxury Travel and a proud Highland tour guide based in the Scottish Highlands. She lives with her husband, their daughter and their little Dachshunds, Benson and Pluto, alongside sheep, ducks, chickens and a Shetland pony.

With family roots in Muir of Ord and a lifelong love of travel, Emma brings warmth, storytelling and local knowledge to every private Highland tour. Her own adventures have taken her across Canada and the USA, but it is sharing Scotland’s castles, landscapes, folklore, wildlife and hidden corners that brings her the greatest joy.

Emma began guiding in Invergordon after returning from maternity leave and quickly realised she had found her calling. She trained through HOSTGA, the Highlands of Scotland Tour Guide Association, and now runs Macaulay Luxury Travel full-time, creating private luxury tours, bespoke Invergordon shore excursions and multi-day Scottish Highland itineraries.

Her aim is simple: to create thoughtful, personal and memorable journeys that go beyond sightseeing and leave guests with a genuine connection to the Highlands.

Awards and Memberships

HBW Awards Finalist 2025 in Thriving Through Challenges
ASB Awards Finalist 2025 in Overcoming Adversity
Member of the Highland Business Women’s Club
Member of SITOA
HOSTGA Qualified Tour Guide
Director and Committee Member of HOSTGA
First Aid Training Certified
Former driving instructor with 20 years of driving experience

Specialist Subjects

Scottish castles, folklore and Highland legends, sustainability and regenerative tourism, animals and wildlife, ladies’ days out and women’s luxury travel.

Cash Macaulay

Cash Macaulay is a husband, father and proud Highlander, originally from Caithness near John O’Groats. Raised on a farm near Wick, he brings a genuine understanding of Highland life, farming heritage and rural Scotland to his tours.

Before joining Macaulay Luxury Travel, Cash trained as a pipe-fitter and welder, worked at Dounreay Nuclear Power Plant, and spent 20 years in the oil and gas industry. He also spent two years working on a large farm in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Cash has a lifelong passion for tractors, with a personal collection of over 20 Ford County tractors, and also enjoys whisky, including rare Dalmore and Johnnie Walker bottles.

He occasionally leads private Highland tours, Invergordon shore excursions and local Inverness day trips. If you are looking for an authentic Highland guide, a warm local welcome or a true man in a kilt, Cash brings humour, knowledge and a light-hearted touch to every tour.